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The 2012 Rum Howler Awards for Rum (Part 2 – The Best of Rum)

What a year it was in the world of Rum. From the Panamonte XXV to the Appleton Estate 50 year Old Rum, it seemed as though every producer was rushing out with a new super premium – super aged rum. In an industry where only ten or so years ago a 10-year-old rum was a rarity, one wonders where all this super aged rum is coming from. Apparently the industry, scattered as it is throughout the Caribbean (and the rest of the World), decided en masse fifteen years ago to begin allow a good part of their rum to just keep on aging. Although it may seem to be a remarkable coincidence that so much well aged rum is hitting the market at once, when one considers that this trend arrived about fifteen years earlier in the world of whisky, I think it is easy to see how the rum manufactures caught on. The cost of aging is after all relatively inexpensive for the producer, (despite what they tell us). The price of aged rum is, on the other hand, relatively expensive for the consumer.

But it is not just well aged rum that is exploding into the market place. It seems every producer is at least considering one of those super-premium white rums that are trying to replace upscale Vodka, and you cannot enter a liquor store these days without tripping over a new flavoured or spiced rum. It seems change is everywhere. Do not misunderstand me, I am not complaining. It is a great time in history to be a rum guy (or gal). We may well look back ten years from now and determine that this was the watershed moment for Rum!

And what of this watershed moment? Like all such moments, some of the changes which we are seeing will be lasting, and some will not. Some of this new rum is very good, and some of this new rum may in later years be labelled as misguided. Of course, I am not so interested in the rums which I feel will later be labeled as misguided, and I am not even really all that interested in those rums which are merely good. I am interested in the rums which I believe are Great! And that is what I have tried very hard to uncover.

And so without further ado, let me reveal the recipients of the 2012 Rum Howler Awards for Excellence in the Production of Rum. These Awards are for the Best and Greatest Rum Spirits which I encountered in the year 2012.

Each year, that I do my Rum Howler Awards for best flavoured rum, the Juan Santos Coffee Infused Rum is one of the contenders. This year, was the year that it finally won the prize. I love this flavoured coffee rum. The flavours are so rich and deep that it can be served neat or enjoyed in a rum flavoured cafe latte. I have even served it to my friends over ice-cream.

The Kuknat Coconut Rum is another very nice dessert rum with the delectable flavour of coconut clearly on display.

I began my tastings in the Spiced Rum Category with 14 different spiced rums trying them each neat, and then in a spiced rum and cola cocktail. For the second year in a row, George Street Spiced Rum won my Rum Howler Award for Best Spiced Rum. The spiced rum and coke cocktail is a natural for the George Street Spiced Rum as the sweetness of the cola works beautifully with the dryer elements of the rum. The Bacardi Oakheart was a very close runner-up, and the three honourable mentions were all no slouches either. Last year I remarked that the Spiced Rum category was beginning to show definite signs of improvement. This trend has continued.

This was an extremely hard category to judge. I started with 6 Overproof rums on a lazy Sunday afternoon in August. After tasting them all neat (very carefully in small sips), I then made a small version of my Hart Breaker cocktail with each. At the end of that day, I was only able to eliminate two of the nominees. The next day, I mixed some high-octane Mojitos and sipped each rum neat again. After much consideration (and much gnashing of my teeth), I named the Panama Red 108 the winner (the Panama Red won last year as well). The Lemon Hart 151, the Plantation Original Dark 73 % Overproof Rum, and the Demerara Superior High Wine were all strong candidates as well. The Overproof category is showing just as much improvement as the Spiced Category!

For this category I considered the flavour of each rum in a Daiquiri, and a Mojito, (two classic white rum cocktails). I awarded an overall score to each white rum and gave that score 50 % of the weighting. Then I tasted of each white rum neat at room temperature which accounted for the other 50 percent of the score. Although I began my deliberations with 9 rums, I was quickly able to narrow the field to 4. Although the Eldorado Deluxe Silver 6 Year Aged Rum was in third place after the cocktail deliberations, it was so clearly superior to all of the other rums when sampled neat, that it literally climbed over the competition to take first place. The real surprise of the competition was the Bermudez Ron Viejo Blanco, which was in first place after the cocktail rounds and almost carried that momentum to a first place finish.

For this category I considered the flavour of each rum mixed in a Cuba Libre’ , and a Daiquiri. The winning 3 Barrel Aged Rum is a wonderful cane spirit from Belize. Amazingly enough it appears to be only available right here in my home Province of Alberta. That is lucky for me and unlucky for the rest of the world. I should note that it was a very close contest between the 3 Barrel Rum and the Appleton Vx. The Vx was perhaps the spirit with the most overall character in the line-up; but the overall smoothness of the 3 Barrel won the day. Screech Rum has an undeserved reputation for harshness. Perhaps, many years ago, this rum was a much rougher blend. However, the current version of Screech is an acceptable sipper and a great mixer. Cockspur Fine Rum was also a worthy competitor in this category deserving honourable mention.

I tasted each rum neat in side by side flights. The 5 Barrel Rum from Travellers and the Plantation Guatemala Gran Anejo Rum were obviously the class of this category. Each rum was so good, that I have decided to also place them in my Top Thirty Rums of the World Countdown tasting competition against much more expensive, and much older rums. (Keep following my website postings to learn what I think the best thirty rums in the word are.)

Again, for this Category, each rum was tasted neat in side by side flights. However, as we have moved into the upper echelon of rums I decided to invite three friends to join me. We scored the rums out of 100 points and then I averaged the scores. When I finished, the Diplomatico Exclusiva was the most favoured rum in this category placing first on every score card. There was such fierce competition amongst the remaining rums that I ended up choosing three Honourable Mentions instead of two.

Tasting these 15 rums side by side was a real treat. Although I chose a winner, a runner-up and two honourable mentions, the truth is that every rum considered for the Ultra Premium Award would be welcome on my rum shelf. After I did my side by side scoring, I was a little surprised by the winning rum, but only a little because I remembered that in my original review for the Ron Millonario XO I thought the rum was absolutely lovely. I guess my feelings haven’t changed!

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Adamsaid

You’ll want to get your hands on the Plantation 3 Stars white rum. It’s quite good and could be your 2013 winner for the category. I’m assuming you haven’t tried it as it doesn’t appear on the list for white rums considered.

In my mind, the El Dorado 5YO and 8YO are mixing rums and spectacular mixing rums at that. Their sipping line is the 12YO-25YO “luxury” range.

That is good to hear about the Plantation 3 star Adam as indeed a bottle is on its way to me from the good folks at Plantation Rum as I write this. As for the El Dorado range, I agree that the 5 is a great mixer, but I also believe, that it is intended to be sipped as often as it is mixed. The 8 year Old is great, and I would be much more inclined to sip the 8 than to mix it.

1. What is your definition of an overproof? Over the years mine has changed from 45% or greater to 50% or greater (this way the up-and-coming 43-46% rums — like Renegade, for example — are now more “regular” than overproof), but what is your line in the sand on this one?

2. Can you elaborate on your distinction between a flavoured and a spiced rum…since both contain additives to achieve a particular profile (coffee, vanilla or what have you), I was wondering why you judged them in separate categories.

3. How do you distinguish between a dark/amber mixing rum versus a dark/amber sipping rum (price, points scores, reputation, makers’ advertising…), and how do you guard against overlap? I make the point because you could argue that the Panama 108 is a great dark mixer, yet I liked it on its own as well…so my question relates to the larger issue of the basis upon which you stratify rums into the judged categories where there are many points of similarity.

Whatever the case is, there certainly were a lot of amazing rums hitting Alberta this year, and the only problem might have been chosing among them (and affording the bill for those we did get). I guess my only beef is that I wish we could get more of the rarer ones.

It was a great year for Rum in Alberta, wasn’t it. As for my classifications, I always look to how the manufacturer or producer classifies the rum as my first indicator as to how I should classify the rum. If the producer calls the rums spiced, then I do, if the producer call the rum flavoured, then I do. I have to use some judgment, because some producers like to hedge their bets. Instead of flavoured, a rum may be call “coffee infused”. I consider all infused rum to be flavoured, unless the rum is clearly labeled “spiced”.

My line in the sand (currently) with respect to overproof follows the same criteria, If the producer labels the rum “overproof”, who am I to argue. If there is no labelling to guide me, I use the water test. If the rum has more alcohol than water, it is overproof, if not it is rum. Hence anything bottled at more than 50 % ABV would be overproof even if the label does not state overproof.

This same logic was extended to the classification of whether a rum was a mixing rum or a sipping rum. I went to the producer’s websites and tried to glean how they classified the rum. If the producer presented the rum as a great cocktail rum or a rum and cola mixer, then that is how I classified it. If the producer stated the rum was for sipping neat, or on ice, then I called it a sipper. Almost all rums which were three years old or younger seem to be classified by the producers as mixers, and almost all rums 4 years and older seem to be classified by the producers as sippers. Some anomalies exist, such as the Legendario rums which are very young, but which are recommended as sippers. I tried my best to judge the rums based upon the manufacturers recommendations.

The real quandry existed at the higher end, where arbitrary age cutoffs really do not work. Again I tried my best to present the rums in the classification which I felt the producer intended. Hence Zacapa XO 25 went into the Ultra Premium Category even though if it were to carry an age statement, that statement would read 6 years old. The Zacapa 23 Solero is presented by the company as a notch below the Zacapa XO 25 so it went into category one notch below the 25. I think it only fair that if the Solero Manufacturers want to present their rums to the public as being much older than they actually are, then I should judge them with the older rums as well.